“Perhaps, the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen.”
Thoughts 
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published 1911, under 300 pages.
I cannot remember what the cover of the book I read looked like! I usually select the appropriate book in goodreads.com when I do finally read something that has been on my to-be-read list, but in this case, I don’t think I did. I have since sent this book to my 9 year old niece so can no longer refer to the copy, which is also why the publisher info/page count is not included above.
But I loved this story! (Also explains why I sent it to my niece.)
Here’s what goodreads.com provides for the blurb:
Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; “It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together…. ‘No wonder it is still,’ Mary whispered. ‘I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.’” As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin’s sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden‘s portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12)
Such a delightful and magical novel! The characters AND the gardens came to life in vivid extraordinary enjoyable ways. I adored Miss Mary as a little tyrant and loved reading about her transformation into self-awareness. I now understand how this became a classic.
FIVE SLICES OF PIE 
X 
WORDS
p.55 – PALANQUIN - |ˌpalənˈkēn|
noun(in India and the East) – a covered litter for one passenger, consisting of a large box carried on two horizontal poles by four or six bearers.
p.201 – GRAIDELY - graidely means “good” in Yorkshire dialect
p. 265 – VERDURE - |ˈvərjər| (Which tells me that I have pronounced this incorrectly; using a harder ‘d’ sound)
noun – lush green vegetation.• the fresh green color of such vegetation.• poetic/literary a condition of freshness. (This is not the first time I have looked up the definition of this word; sometimes I know a word and just like to test my knowledge against its use but since all I have noted is page and word, I can’t recall why exactly.)
This was a terrific book to read in Spring. As the robin seemed to be saying to Mary, “Let us [...] chirp, hop and twitter! Come on! Come on!”
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HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine
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